SPEAKING TO SPIRITUAL PEOPLE

1 CORINTHIANS 3:1-3 NKJ 
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 

Paul's letter to the church in Corinth had some very direct corrective elements to it.   

In these three verses, Paul said he was not able to speak to them as spiritual people but as to carnal babes in Christ.  The people had been dividing among themselves by their favorite preachers and identifying more with them than with Christ.  And Paul was not having it.   

You are carnal because there is envy, strife, and divisions.  Carnal means fleshy or flesh ruled.  Paul told these believers that because they were flesh ruled, carnal, they were acting like mere men.  One translation reads acting like mere unchanged men.  Notice Paul did not say they weren't saved.  He did not say they lost their salvation or that bad things were coming their way.  He said that when they were ruled by their fleshy feelings and desires, it would result in envy, strife, and divisions.  When they were ruled by their flesh, they acted as people who had never been changed.  Again, the implication here is that they could have acted differently. They could have been spiritual.  Spiritual people do not get caught up in envy, strife (arguing), and divisions.  Spiritual people exalt Jesus, not men.  Spiritual people can handle spiritual meat, not just milk.  It's good to be spiritual.   

APPLICATION 

As we stay with the Lord, feed on His word, and put His word into practice, we grow spiritually.  As we grow spiritually, we are not dominated by feelings, hurts, slights, and pressure.  We are able to rise above the junk that mere unchanged people live in.  It doesn't mean we are superior, just that we are living as spiritual people, not carnal.  And spiritual people enjoy life on a different level.  So, I am speaking to spiritual folks.  Let's rise up and live like changed people. 

PRAYER 

Thank You, Lord, I can rise above the negative fleshly level of the world because of what You have done in me and for me in Jesus.  Spiritual means better, not weird.